King Salman chairs cabinet session as Saudi cabinet backs Gaza ceasefire call, reviews OIC Somalia meeting

SPA

Riyadh, January 13, 2026 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired a cabinet session in Riyadh on Tuesday, during which ministers reviewed recent high-level consultations between the Kingdom and various countries, focusing on regional developments and efforts to support security and peace.

The cabinet reaffirmed the Palestinian cause as central, reiterating support for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and backing steps that would enable Palestinians to exercise self-determination and establish an independent state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Minister of Media Salman Al-Dossary said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency that the cabinet welcomed the outcomes of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s extraordinary meeting on Somalia, held in Jeddah, and reiterated rejection of attempts to create parallel entities that undermine Somalia’s unity, territorial integrity or sovereignty.

The cabinet also commended the conclusion of the Gulf Shield 2026 joint military exercise hosted by the Kingdom, involving the air and air defense forces of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the GCC Unified Military Command.

Ministers reviewed economic events hosted by the Kingdom, including the Saudi-Japan Ministerial Investment Forum and the Saudi-Canadian Business and Investment Forum, which they said resulted in multiple memoranda of understanding across sectors including space, cybersecurity, ICT, manufacturing, education, finance, water and agriculture.

Among decisions issued during the session, the cabinet approved a draft memorandum of understanding on political consultations between the Saudi foreign ministry and Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, and a draft memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Poland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The cabinet approved two draft memoranda of understanding on cooperation between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Municipalities and Housing and Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare, and also approved a draft memorandum of understanding on cooperation in civil service affairs and administrative development between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

It authorised the minister of health, as chairman of the Public Health Authority’s board, or a deputy, to discuss and sign a draft memorandum of understanding on cooperation in infectious disease with Singapore’s Communicable Disease Agency, and approved a draft memorandum of understanding on cooperation in statistics between Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics and Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information.

The cabinet approved Saudi Arabia’s accession to the Makkah Convention of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on anti-corruption law enforcement cooperation, and approved a draft memorandum of understanding with Qatar’s Administrative Control and Transparency Authority on promoting integrity and transparency and preventing and combating corruption.